Display rack for periodicals and the like

ABSTRACT

A periodical display rack comprising a plurality of inclined shelf units anchored to a common vertical support, each of said shelf units being constructed from a one-piece sheet metal blank providing a generally rectangular flat back-rest having a mounting flange extended perpendicularly thereto along one lateral edge thereof, a second flange extended perpendicularly thereto along the opposite lateral edge and serving as a combined stiffener and label supporting surface for the back-rest, and also having a toe-flange extended perpendicularly thereto along the bottom edge of the back-rest to be engaged by the lower edges of periodicals when the latter are placed flat against the inclined back-rest for displaying the periodicals in a position disposed edgewise to the common shelf support. The common shelf support may have the form of a vertical wall or other flat surface such as a panel, and in the case of panel type supports, the panels may be attached directly to a wall like a large picture, or alternatively may be provided with supporting legs or any other desired type of self-sustaining supporting base or stand, with the base preferably forming storage compartments to store periodicals therein when not displayed on the shelf units. The shelf units may also be provided with quickly attachable and detachable extender shelves of larger size than the regular shelf units to accommodate periodicals of larger size than those normally displayed on the regular shelf units, each of said extender shelves including a flat back-rest having a toe-flange corresponding to the regular shelves, and having yieldable clamping means anchored to the rear face of the extender backrest to detachably clamp the same to the back-rest of any of the regular shelf units.

United States Patent Scherzer 1 May9, 1972 [541 DISPLAY RACK FOR PERIODICALS AND THE LIKE [72] Inventor: Robert K. Scherzer, Liverpool, NY.

[73] Assignee: Gaylord Bros., Inc., Syracuse, NY.

[22] Filed: Nov. 6, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 87,494

Primary Examiner-Nile C. Byers, Jr. Attorney-Robb & Robb 5 7 1 ABSTRACT A periodical display rack comprising a plurality of inclined shelf units anchored to a common vertical support, each of said shelf units being constructed from a one-piece sheet metal blank providing a generally rectangular flat back-rest having a mounting flange extended perpendicularly thereto along one lateral edge thereof, a second flange extended perpendicularly thereto along the opposite lateral edge and serving as a combined stiffener and label supporting surface for the back-rest, and also having a toe-flange extended perpendicularly thereto along the bottom edge of the back-rest to be engaged by the lower edges of periodicals when the latter are placed flat against the inclined back-rest for displaying the periodicals in a position disposed edgewise to the common shelf support. The common shelf support may have the form of a vertical wall or other flat surface such as a panel, and in the case of panel type supports, the panels may be attached directly to a wall like a large picture, or alternatively may be provided with supporting legs or any other desired type of selfsustaining supporting base or stand, with the base preferably forming storage compartments to store periodicals therein when not displayed on the shelf units. The shelf units may also be provided with quickly attachable and detachable extender shelves of larger size than the regular shelf units to accommodate periodicals of larger size than those normally displayed on the regular shelf units, each of said extender shelves including a flat back-rest having a toe-flange corresponding to the regular shelves, and having yieldable clamping means anchored to the rear face of the extender back-rest to detachably clamp the same to the back-rest of any of the regular shelf units.

5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY 9 I972 SHEET 1 OF 3 INVENTOR ROBERT K.SCHERZER ATTOPHEYJ PATENTEDMM 9 I972 SHEET 2 BF 3 Hill] R w m H PATENTEnMM slmz I 3.661.269

INVEI'-TOR ROBERT- KBCHERZBR ATTORNEYJ DISPLAY RACK FOR PERIODICALS AND THE LIKE This invention relates to display racks, and more particularly to racks of the type intended primarily for library use in displaying periodicals such as magazines, pamphlets and the like so that the face or cover, as well as the spine edges thereof, are conveniently presented to view, and the rack having a maximum capacity while occupying a minimum of space.

Basically, my improved display rack comprises a plurality of open, inclined shelf units which can be anchored edgewise to a common support such as a wall or other appropriate flat surface, or which can be anchored to a panel member which is supported by legs or by any other suitable base which extends to the floor or which can rest on a table, counter or other supporting structure to dispose the shelf units at an elevation which is conveniently accessible to the user. Alternatively, the panel supporting legs or base may be omitted, and the panel can be hung or otherwise anchored to a wall surface in a manner comparable to the hanging of a large picture frame or mirror.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a display rack of the aforementioned type which is relatively simple and inexpensive in construction, easy to assemble, and compact in form.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and improved shelf unit which can be formed from a one-piece sheet metal blank of appropriate shape to provide a flat backrest, a mounting flange extended therefrom along one lateral edge thereof, a combined stiffening and label supporting flange extended therefrom along the opposite lateral edge thereof, and a toe-flange or ledge extended outwardly from the back-rest along its bottom edge.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means for quickly extending the size of the shelf units to accommodate periodicals or magazines of larger than average size without resort to replacement or disassembly of the shelf units normally provided.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter described or will be readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, and the novel features thereof will be defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a periodical display rack constructed according to one embodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the rack of FIG. I in front elevation, with some of the shelf units omitted to disclose the aperture arrangement in the supporting panel according to one manner of anchoring the shelf units to the panel by means of screw fasteners;

FIG. 3 is a view of the rack of FIG. 1 as seen in end elevation;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the lower portion of a modified form of my display rack which is provided with a storage type base;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in front elevation of a modified supporting panel of the peg board type which can be used for anchoring the shelf units thereto as exemplified by one shelf unit depicted in this view;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a one-piece sheet metal blank from which the shelf units may be formed by folding along the broken lines depicted in this view;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a shelf unit in finished form as constructed from the blank of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a one-piece sheet metal blank from which a shelf extender unit may be formed by folding along the broken lines depicted in this view;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the extender attachment applied to a shelf unit for extending the size of the latter to accommodate periodicals of larger than average size; and

FIG. 10 is a view of the assembly in FIG. 9 as seen partly in end elevation and partly in cross-section taken approximately on the line l0-l0 ofFIG. 9.

Like reference characters denote corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the embodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings, a plurality of individual open shelf units generally designated 1 are mounted on a supporting panel 2, with the shelf units preferably arranged in vertically and horizontally aligned rows to facilitate the placement of periodicals such as magazines upon each rack for display and for convenient removal thereof from the racks when desired. As best seen in FIG. 2, the panel 2 is provided with apertures 3 to receive suitable anchor means such as screw fasteners 4 for securing each shelf unit to the panel, with each shelf unit tilted or inclined at an angle of about preferably 30 to the vertical. Instead of using specially drilled solid panels 2, standard pegboard panels designated 2, as shown in FIG. 5, may be used for convenient mounting of the shelf units thereon, such panels normally having apertures 3 at uniformly spaced intervals throughout and arranged in vertically and horizontally aligned rows which conveniently allow the shelf units to be anchored edgewise on the panels and inclined at a desired uniform angle by means of the screw fasteners 4 or other appropriate anchors. The size of the panels 2 or 2' and the number of shelf units anchored thereto may be varied as desired, and the assembly may be anchored directly to a venical wall or other appropriate flat surface when installed for use. If preferred, the assembly may be self-sustaining by providing the same with appropriate legs or other type of base to support the panel assembly on the floor, or on a table, stand or counter top.

In FIGS. I to 3, the display rack is shown in the form of a floor-supported stand having legs 5-5 at each end of the stand, said legs being appropriately interconnected by braces 6 and 7 extending therebetween. The legs and braces may be formed of wood or metal or other suitable material as preferred. At each end of the stand in this embodiment, a vertical standard 8 extends upwardly from the base legs to support two separate shelf unit panel assemblies arranged in back-to-back relation to each other, with the standards disposed therebetween and anchored thereto as by screw fasteners 9 extended through both panels and the intermediate standards.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the shelf units 1 on one side of the display stand are tilted or inclined oppositely to those on the opposite side of the stand so that when magazines are displayed on the shelf units, the spines of all the magazines will be presented to view, as well as the front cover page thereof. However, if preferred, the shelf units may all be inclined in the same direction as shown in FIG. 4. While the modified embodiment of FIG. 4 is generally similar to that of FIG. 1, as indicated by the primed reference characters, the base of the display stand has the form of a cabinet 10 preferably defining storage compartments 11, in lieu of the braces 6, 7 of FIG. 1.

The details of the individual shelf units 1, which are unique, will now be more particularly described, and reference will be made in the following to FIGS. 6 to 10 of the drawings. As shown in FIG. 6, each individual shelf unit is preferably constructed from a one-piece sheet metal flat blank generally designated 12 and having a generally rectangular outline as shown, with the blank being notched at one comer as indicated at 13 and slit near the opposite corner as indicated at 14. In forming a shelf unit from such a blank, the blank is folded on the broken line designated A to provide a mounting flange 15 along one lateral edge and disposed perpendicularly to the main body 16 which constitutes a flat back-rest when the shelf unit is in use. The blank is also folded, preferably in an opposite direction, along the broken line B to provide another and preferably shorter flange 17 at the opposite lateral edge of the blank said flange serving as a stiffener for the back-rest l6, and also providing a flat surface to which identification labels or other appropriate titles and the like can be affixed. The blank is still further folded on the broken line C aligned with the slit 14 to provide a toe-flange or ledge 18 so that the toe-flange extends outwardly from the back-rest and per endicular thereto along the bottom end of the shelf-unit, with one end of the toe-flange being extended at 18' in the zone of the slit 14 so as to overlap upon a portion of the mounting flange 15 for common anchorage with the mounting flange to the supporting panel or wall to which the shelf units are secured. The mounting flange 15 is provided with anchor receiving apertures 19--19 adjacent to its opposite ends, and the toe flange extension 18 is also provided with a corresponding anchor receiving aperture which registers with the adjacent aperture 19 in the mounting flange when the shelf unit is in its finished form as best illustrated in FIG. 7. The extension 18' thus serves to assure sufficient rigidity to the toeflange when the shelf unit is in use. Also when the shelf unit is in use, the stiffener flange 17 prevents "knifing" of the periodicals when placing the latter on the shelf units for display.

The shelf units 1 are preferably constructed in a size suitable to display magazines or other periodicals of the average size, with the magazines resting flat against the back-rest 16 and the lower edge of the magazines resting upon the toeflange 18. However, the shelf units can be quickly converted to use for displaying magazines larger than those of average size by applying to the shelf unit a detachable auxiliary extender generally designated 21 as illustrated in FIGS. 8 to 10. The extender 21 is generally similar in form to the regular shelf unit except for omission of the mounting flange in the extender. It is preferably constructed from a one-piece sheet metal flat blank as shown in FIG. 8, but being somewhat larger in size than the blank of FIG. 6. The blank 21 is folded on line B to provide a stiffener flange 17 along one lateral edge of the extender, and also folded on line C to provide a toe-flange 18" along the bottom edge of the extender.

While the extender 21 can be removably applied to the regular shelf unit in any suitable manner, it is preferably provided with a resilient flat clip 22 having one end thereof spotwelded at 23 or otherwise anchored to the rear face of the extender to removably clamp it to the back-rest of the regular shelf unit when the extender is superposed upon the latter as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Thus, the extender can be quickly and easily applied to and removed from any individual shelf unit or group of shelf units at will.

While the specific details of my invention have been shown and described herein, the invention is not confined thereto as various changes and alterations can be made without departing from the spirit thereof as defined in the appended claims.

Iclaim 1. A periodical display rack, comprising a vertically disposed flat panel, a plurality of independent shelf units mounted on at least one face of the panel, with the shelf units being spaced apart at a substantial distancefrom each other and disposed in horizontally and vertically aligned rows, each of said shelf units including a flat back-rest of generally rectangular outline and having a mounting flange extended forwardly and perpendicularly therefrom along one lateral edge thereof, said mounting flange having means for anchoring the back-rest to the panel aforesaid with the back-rest lying edgewise to the panel in an inclined plane, each of said back-rests having a toe-flange extended along the bottom edge thereof and projecting outwardly from the back-rest substantially perpendicularly thereto and in the same direction as the mounting flange, said toe-flange being extended at one end into overlapping relation to a portion of the mounting flange and having provision for common anchorage to the panel with one end of the mounting flange, and the lateral edge of the back-rest opposite to the mounting flange having a stiffener flange extended therefrom in a direction opposite to the toeflange and being substantially perpendicular to the back-rest along the forward lateral edge of the latter, and said stiffener flange having a flat outer face defining a surface to which identifying labels can be applied and exposed to view along the open lateral edge of each shelf unit in forwardly spaced relation to thestpporting panel.

2. A periodic display rack as defined in claim 1, wherein the vertical panel is mounted on a base having laterally spaced standards extending vertically upwardly therefrom and affording a common support for a pair of panel and shelf unit assemblies disposed in back-to-back relation to each other when secured thereto with the standards disposed between the opposite lateral marginal edges of the panels.

3. A periodical display shelf unit, comprising a flat back-rest of generally rectangular outline and having a mounting flange extended forwardly therefrom along one lateral edge thereof and disposed substantially perpendicular thereto, a stiffener flange extended from the opposite lateral edge thereof and in a direction opposite to the mounting flange, and a toe-flange extended forwardly along the bottom edge of the back-rest and projecting substantially perpendicularly therefrom, said toe-flange having one end thereof extended into overlapping relation to a portion of the mounting flange and adapted to be secured therewith to a common supporting anchor, and said mounting flange and the overlapped portion of the extended toe-flange having apertures provided therein to receive anchorage means for anchoring the shelf unit to a flat supporting surface, with the back-rest disposed at an inclination to a vertical plane.

4. A periodical display shelf unit as defined in claim 3, combined with extender means detachably secured thereto to extend the size thereof, said extender means comprising a flat auxiliary back-rest superposed on the first mentioned backrest and being of greater size than the latter, and clamping means carried by the auxiliary back-rest for clamping the same to the first-mentioned back-rest.

5. A periodical display shelf unit as defined in claim 3, combined with extender means for detachably secured thereto to extend the size thereof, said extender means comprising a flat auxiliary back-rest superposed on the first mentioned backrest and being of greater size than the latter, and clamping means carried by the auxiliary back-rest for clamping the same to the first-mentioned back-rest, said clamping means having the form of a resilientclip member anchored to one end to the back face of the auxiliary back-rest. 

1. A periodical display rack, comprising a vertically disposed flat panel, a plurality of independent shelf units mounted on at least one face of the panel, with the shelf units being spaced apart at a substantial distance from each other and disposed in horizontally and vertically aligned rows, each of said shelf units including a flat back-rest of generally rectangular outline and having a mounting flange extended forwardly and perpendicularly therefrom along one lateral edge thereof, said mounting flange having means for anchoring the back-rest to the panel aforesaid with the back-rest lying edgewise to the panel in an inclined plane, each of said back-rests having a toe-flange extended along the bottom edge thereof and projecting outwardly from the back-rest substantially perpendicularly thereto and in the same direction as the mounting flange, said toe-flange being extended at one end into overlapping relation to a portion of the mounting flange and having provision for common anchorage to the panel with one end of the mounting flange, and the lateral edge of the back-rest opposite to the mounting flange having a stiffener flange extended therefrom in a direction opposite to the toe-flange and being substantially perpendicular to the backrest along the forward lateral edge of the latter, and said stiffener flange having a flat outer face defining a surface to which identifying labels can be applied and exposed to view along the open lateral edge of each shelf unit in forwardly spaced relation to the supporting panel.
 2. A periodical display rack as defined in claim 1, wherein the vertical panel is mounted on a base having laterally spaced standards extending vertically upwardly therefrom and affording a common support for a pair of panel and shelf unit assemblies disposed in back-to-back relation to each other when secured thereto with the standards disposed between the opposite lateral marginal edges of the panels.
 3. A periodical display shelf unit, comprising a flat back-rest of generally rectangular outline and having a mounting flange extended forwardly therefrom along one lateral edge thereof and disposed substantially perpendicular thereto, a stiffener flange extended from the opposite lateral edge thereof and in a direction opposite to the mounting flange, and a toe-flange extended forwardly along the bottom edge of the back-rest and projecting substantially perpendicularly therefrom, said toe-flange having one end thereof extended into overlapping relation to a portion of the mounting flange and adapted to be secured therewith to a common supporting anchor, and said mounting flange and the overlapped portion of the extended toe-flange having apertures provided therein to receive anchorage meanS for anchoring the shelf unit to a flat supporting surface, with the back-rest disposed at an inclination to a vertical plane.
 4. A periodical display shelf unit as defined in claim 3, combined with extender means detachably secured thereto to extend the size thereof, said extender means comprising a flat auxiliary back-rest superposed on the first mentioned back-rest and being of greater size than the latter, and clamping means carried by the auxiliary back-rest for clamping the same to the first-mentioned back-rest.
 5. A periodical display shelf unit as defined in claim 3, combined with extender means for detachably secured thereto to extend the size thereof, said extender means comprising a flat auxiliary back-rest superposed on the first mentioned back-rest and being of greater size than the latter, and clamping means carried by the auxiliary back-rest for clamping the same to the first-mentioned back-rest, said clamping means having the form of a resilient clip member anchored to one end to the back face of the auxiliary back-rest. 